Steel delay pushes back bridge work

Frank MacEachern

Updated 10:50 pm, Monday, April 1, 2013

A delay in receiving a specialty steel was the reason for the holdup in the start of Lockwood Lane bridge replacement over Interstate 95.

Russell Bush, project manager for Rotha Contracting, of Avon, said a mill that produces high-strength, self-weathering structural steel had an unexpected shutdown and could not roll the material in May. He could not identify the mill because the company doesn't deal directly with the steel supplier.

"They only produce it twice a year and the first rolling of the year was in January and the second was supposed to be in May," he said.

He said the company expects the steel to arrive in June.

The steel is to be used for 2-foot girders, as opposed to the customary 3-foot girders the state Department of Transportation has specified in the past, to allow more clearance for trucks under bridges, Bush said.

He said the company could have started demolishing the bridge Monday, but work would be delayed while the company waited for steel delivery.

"We were ready to go on the first but we didn't want to inconvenience people," Bush said.

Pushing back the start until May 15 will allow motorists and pedestrians an additional month and a half of access to the bridge, he said.

Bush said the project is still to be completed on Nov. 30, the original date. He stressed the delay was a decision the company, state and town made mutually during a meeting last Thursday.

Once work begins, all traffic will be rerouted during the 5 1/2-month, $3 million project. The DOT is administering the bridge project.